Much Needed Topless 41 Yr Old Cosmetic Surgery

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4spdragtop

4spdragtop

FABO Gold Member
FABO Gold Member
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I finally sent my 41 year old honey off for much needed cosmetic surgery. When I got her she was 23 years old, but at that time it was my 3rd mopar at the time (69 sport satellite and 67 coronet 440), so she had to wait. How I stumbled across her was that my gf's uncle at the time knew I liked mopars and knew I wanted a droptop. He heard about this car and the owner was claiming bankruptcy. I went and looked at her and knew it would be a project, but was very rare. A53 with a 4spd droptop. The previous owner had no idea where the 340 went, but he had the orig x heads. The car was complete and correct, even had the correct exhaust tips, minus the engine, and the shifter, and a previous owner had done some early 80's diamond-tuck nogahide interior work...ugggh!! Well after 18 years of paying storage and collecting trinkets for her (which included buying 3 more cudas!!!) I finally decided to give her some much needed attention and sent her away. I was hoping to do the work myself, but I realized that she needed a proper resto. Needless to say I am no welder or painter, but I know enough of everything else to make me dangerous!! So I completely gutted the car and sent her off. Thanks to the members who made recommendations as to who to send it to. Being financially challenged and with a piss-pot full of cuda parts, I needed to find someone that would lessen my resto bill by taking some of my goodies. Nigel at National Moparts is going to do it and I am hoping to see her in about 2-3 months. I will put it back together, as I said I know enough to make me dangerous, so all electrical, mechanical etc etc will be my baby, but I love doing it. So expect to see me post a lot more questions once I get her back! Wish me luck, I miss her already!!! I have scoured the internet for years trying to find the same car as mine and havent found one yet, anyone seen one? 340 4 spd formula s ragtop...production numbers are approx 25.
Thanks and will keep you posted with more pics as it progresses, she was shy about having her picture taken before, hope she isnt as shy when she comes back with her top down!!

Steve

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Congrats on a rare find!! I'm glad you are at a point to get the ball rollin'. That will be a really nice car. As always, keep the pictures coming!!:cheers:
 
Thanks! Its great to finally see it going to get started. Im going to attempt everything except paint and body, so hopefully she will be home soon and I can actually do something to her besides gather trinkets!! I will post pics when as I get them. I was flipping thru Tony Fields 67 resto, and man what a gorgeous build going on there!!
 
Hope you have all the pieces to get her back together?Nigel knows his stuff and it,s worth$$$Good luck with the rare car!
 
Yeah, I dont have all the pieces yet. Well lots of the ones I have need to be replated...dash bezel, arm rest bases, stuff like that. Tony Fields, used a place and his stuff came back looking sweeeet. I think the only thing I will change from factory is the front brakes(sbp disc brake conversion), maybe a PST suspension, and havent decided on a color yet. Originally it was dark green(F5 I think). And not keen on that color, so I may pick another 69 color. As far as Nigel, I have dealt with him for years buying parts, here and there, but never had a resto done by him. He has some sweet looking cars in the shop!! Next time I am there I'll ask if I can take some pics.
Thanks
 
Ok I was up this week to see my girl and see how she was doing, they have her stripped down a little bit more. Man is it scary to see what they can do in a short amount of time. I will probably go up again on Friday, to hand over some greenbacks!! There is a fair amount of rust, but she is definitely restorable. They will probably be to the point where i can bring her home late spring, so I better get my garage cleared out HUGE!! Sorry for the blurry pics, I was shaking so bad looking at her!!

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That is a cool story of how hanging on to these things can pay off later! Just dont add up all those storage bills :)

I am with you on all of your modifications, love that you're keeping the sbp.

Color? If I wanted it to stand out, Q5 - Bright Turquoise or Performance Red (special for Bcudas). If I wanted a GTX style cruiser, T5 - Copper or A4 - Silver which I think look classy.

Waiting for the results.

Grant
 
I've seen one other formula 340 S 4 speed ragtop. I'm thinking it was a 68 though ( memory failure ). It was dark green with white interior and top. It sat outside the fence at Carolina Classic Cars in Greer SC for a long time. Top gone, rained in, rough. Priced to me at 3200.00 in 88 or 89. The owner finally took it off to Virgina or somewhere.
 
I dont know which route I am going to go with the outside color yet...inside was black so a now brainer there, the exterior was F8, not a big fan of that, but the resto guy said that if you add a little more flake to the paint it looks awesome. Silver does look classy though!! Not going to do anything different other than stock, he even said to not put frame rail connectors in it, as well leave the sbp, I have a disc brake setup for her once she comes home. And a lumpier cam.
Hey Red, it'd be nice to track down the one you saw in 89, I bought mine in 92, at that time the production numbers were 34. I got it for a little less than what the other one was at. The guy didnt know what he had, but neither did I until I ran the fender tag! More pics coming in the next couple of days. Scary ones no doubt!!
 
Remember when you stray from the original paint formula ( add a little more flake ) it wont be easy to match later. My brother had that problem with a repainted Lebarron that later needed the truck lid replaced.
Everyone has their own preferencein color and their own opinions about color change too.
I really dont like silver. To me its only a shinny gray. A gray car on a gray road ona a gray day will nearly disappear.
Orange is the safest color on the road statisticly. I'm not a big fan of orange either.
I already have a shinny Alpine white vynil convertible top and my car will be painted the same white with the metallic red interior and boot.
This 67 was originally gold with black top and interior.
Hard to beat black on the classics with all the trim they have to set it off. The body work has to be perfect though.
In the end I'll vote OEM green with the black stripe kit. :)
 
Congrat's Steve :cheers: That Barracuda is awesome =P~=P~
I agree, Tony sure has his looking soooo nize =P~
You sure surprised me on the rag top :cheers: I did not know you had it till know 8)
Looking forward to your updates and I would be shaking to if I had that going on bud :cheers: Outstanding :happy10:
 
Seeing things like this makes me nostalgic for when I had my own shop...

Looking forward to seeing it coming along.
 
Dude,,I know what your going thru .I drove my 68 383 bcuda conv into my garage in 1987 and it is still there but almost done.Life gets in the way.Dont give up!It will be worth it
 
top pic, the car under the green tarp to the Left of your barracuda, any idea what that is? rear window looks like the bottom slants in like a 61-66 Anglia?

Sweet barracuda!! It is great to get moving on a project after such a long process of collecting parts...
 
The car under the green tarp is an early cuda owned by a very helpful,nice gent that works for Nigel. He knows every inch of that yard. I THINK
 
bumnround said:
The car under the green tarp is an early cuda owned by a very helpful,nice gent that works for Nigel. He knows every inch of that yard. I THINK
Click to expand...

Hey bum'n you know the place then?? Yeah I think if my memory is right, that its a 1st generation barracuda. I am going up Friday to see what progress they made, plus Nigel is going to take some parts that I have and dont need to reduce the cost of the resto. I havent been able to do anything to it for 18 years except gather parts. I cant weld or paint and she needs both, but once the steel work is done, and the interior painted I will bring her home to put together before the final paint. Suggestions on color would be nice??? Its originally a F8 green, with black interior. I dont like the green, but redfish had me leaning towards that with a black accent stripe. I wish I knew how to photoshop and could play with colors and stripes a bit.
 
So I went up to resto shop the other day and not a lot more progress has been made since my last pics, so I will wait until next week to add more pics. Its getting some new inner fenders put in. Nice steel from AMD. As much as I want to see her done, its also the $$$ involved. They took the fiberglass front fenders off that were on it when I bought it. I lucked out huge and found a set of fenders that were pretty much NOS. Cost a pretty penny but well worth the investment. More pics next week I hope!

Hi Mark, the barracuda is a formula "S" ragtop with 340 4 spd console. From what I gather from Galens books and any other research I have done, there was only around 30 of these made. Then add the goofy radio delete, color, blah blah blah. Definitely low prod #'s. The only change from stock I am doing on the car....so far is pwr front discs. The car came with drums all the way around.
 
Cool way to go.You will get very motivated when she has paint,I know I always do.good luck and I hope you dont end up like me WORST BODY JOB EVER.
 
That's going to be a gorgeous Cuda whatever color you paint it but I like a previous posters suggestion about the turquoise.Back in the 80's there was a turquoise pro street 2nd gen Barracuda here in Victoria and it looked awesome and it was'nt a metallic color which I think would look even better,especially with the black interior.
I see there are two different turquiose options in 69,I prefer the Q4 as the Q5 looks more like blue.I'll try to attach the paint code chart.

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Hey Snake and GT, I have seen a lot of this guys work over the past while and they all look straight and sweet, just like southern Comfort!! I like the Q4 as well GT, but Im still up in the air as to the color.....whether to stay original color or go with something different?? Thats a ways off anyway...for now I gotta figure out how to compromise myself for $$$ to pay for the bleepin thing!!
 
Ok went up to the shop to see my topless darlin and see how she was doing up there! They have definitely given her more attn in the past 2 months than I have in 18 years!! I thought about her every night tho!!LOL here are some more pics, with floor pan, some inner fenders and am waiting for the trunk pan. Nice that my 4 spd hump was still in nice shape. Sucks having to replace as much as I am, but the benefit of doing the whole floor pan and trunk is that they got to the frame rails and blasted and epoxyd them. This had better be the only time I have to strip her down this much. Another couple mortgage payments to go.... he has given me the weekend to come up with a paint color...

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Looks good. What kind of primer/sealer did they use on the firewall and other parts of the original sheet metal?
 
Hey dusted, Im not sure about the primer, but they are going to por it when its ready for it. I will have to ask him. Definitely need to make a list for him!!
 
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